Dallas is joined on Forbes' "Best Cities for Good Jobs" list by Houston (No. 2), Austin (No. 3), Fort Worth (No. 4), and San Antonio (No. 6), which, if you're keeping count, means that Texas cities make up the top half of the magazine's top 10 list.

From the introduction to the list:

One explanation that is definitely false: Texas isn't growing on the backs of underpaid, non-union workers. While Texas is a right-to-work state, many of the highest paying jobs in the Dallas area are with unionized defense manufacturers like Bell Helicopter and Lockheed Martin, which produces the F-35 Lightning II fighter at a mile-long plant in Fort Worth.

Asked about the state's reputation for union-busting and low-wage jobs, Dallas Federal Reserve Economist Pia Orrenius said "we get a lot of that."

"People say it's all low-pay jobs, so I looked at employment growth by wage quartile," she said. And guess what? Not only is the Dallas-area per-capita income of $39,548 comfortably above the national average of $37,000, but it's growing fastest in the top half of wages above $16 an hour.

Dallas doesn't have the booming energy industry of Houston - No. 2 on the list with expected 5-year job growth of 2.6% a year - but it has a prosperous and growing financial and professional-services sector. Bank of America has large back-office operations in the Dallas area and the city is home to large law and accounting firms as well as professionals who serve the energy industry. "Those are your extremely high paying jobs," Orrenius said, paying an average of $28 an hour.

So, that's the good news. The bad news is, Forbes just gave Rick Perry another talking point about how right Rick Perry is.

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Texas has been doing well regardless of who is
president because of the way our fiscal and our regulatory system works here at
the state level. If we could only do something that encourages in the same way at
the national level, I believe we would have a great national economic boom.

Dallas is losing a lot of talented workers due to hiring practices that prevent qualified and skilled people from being employed. The push for lower wages leads to many employers filing petitions to bring in lower cost labor from other countries. The petitions need to be approved and employers need to show that there was not any available US citizens to fill those positions. The employers have found ways to prove that even though thousands of qualified applicants are applying. This leads to those most qualified to leave Dallas in search of employment elsewhere. Take a look at this link and discover how many Dallas employers are insourcing lower wage workers - http://www.myvisajobs.com/Search_Visa_Sponsor.aspx?N=dallas&S=

I remember a day when having a "bad job" was motivation for change and improvement in ones life. Now its used as a sympathy crutch and a club for class warfare. I don't think that "immigrant" construction workers really care at that their job doesn't come with the perks of a traditional skilled job. They're here for the money, so why are we at each others throats to provide someone who hasn't made the personal investments in life with the rewards of the same life? My hope is that rising costs within the Dallas city limits force a 2nd wave of "immigrant" migration to the outer suburbs.

The data actually suggests that Dallas is growing jobs on both ends of the income scale. For example, all that growth in the professional and financial services sector is driving construction of office high-rises across the city, where (mostly immigrant) construction workers get paid very little, do not have benefits or even workers comp, and routinely experience wage theft. The "good" development is tied to the regular old exploitative "bad" development. For all our "good jobs," we still rank pretty high in poverty rates, lack of insurance, etc.

So, military contracts, utilities and professions. Those aren't jobs that grow the economy. They don't grow GDP. And, that F-35 may not be a program for much longer. Those jets cost $1.5 trillion over their lifetime. We'd be better flying F 14 Tomcats from the 70's. The F-35 is less maneuverable, overheats and has major engine problems.

"but it has a prosperous and growing financial and professional-services
sector. Bank of America has large back-office operations in the Dallas
area and the city is home to large law and accounting firms as well as
professionals who serve the energy industry. ""